Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the IT, Consumer Staples and Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.20%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P), which rose 13.73% or 1.06 points to trade at 8.78 at the close. Meanwhile, Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL) added 9.47% or 0.23 points to end at 2.66 and Nearmap Ltd (ASX:NEA) was up 6.56% or 0.125 points to 2.030 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX:MFG), which fell 3.87% or 2.08 points to trade at 51.73 at the close. Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU) declined 3.11% or 0.050 points to end at 1.560 and Unibail Rodamco Westfield (ASX:URW) was down 2.69% or 0.16 points to 5.79.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 674 to 650 and 398 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.19% to 11.533.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.21% or 3.85 to $1805.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1.00% or 0.72 to hit $71.48 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.82% or 0.60 to trade at $72.83 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.60% to 0.7436, while AUD/JPY fell 1.22% to 81.76.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.00% at 92.642.